Republishes articles by two senior legal historians. Besides summarizing what has now become classical literature in the field, it offers illuminating insight into what it means to be a professional legal historian.

This collection of outstanding essays in the history of early American law is designed to meet the demand for a basic introduction to the literature of colonial and early United States law. Eighteen essays from historical and legal journals by outstanding authorities explore the major themes in American legal history from colonial beginnings to the early nineteenth century. Originally published in 1969. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The idea of compiling a bibliography of legal Festschriften originated with Lilly Roberts, and represented the most important creative side of her life during the last ten years of her association with the Universi ty of Michigan Law Library. The project received advice and counsel from the Foreign Law Com mittee of the American Association of Law Libraries. The final publi cation was made possible by an allocation from the grant made to the University of Michigan Law School by the Ford Foundation for re search in International and Comparative Law. Beverley J. Pooley Professor of Law Director of the Law Library University of Michigan PREFACE The present bibliography is international in scope; it covers Fest schriften published in many countries. It includes Festschriften from 1868 (date of the earliest legal Festschrift found) through December, 1968. A bibliography of all legal Festschriften, to be complete, could only be achieved through the cooperative effort of an international group of experts. The present bibliography is based on notes gathered by the compiler over a period of years from material available at the University of Michigan Law Library. It is therefore, inevitably, incom plete and occasionally inaccurate and must be considered as a tentative list, subject to implementation and correction at other legal centers. It was felt, however, that its publication might be of some use, since not enough bibliographical information about this important and steadily growing type of legal literature exists.

Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court examines the lives, legal careers, and legacies of the eight Jews who have served or who currently serve as justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: Louis D. Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Elena Kagan. David Dalin discusses the relationship that these Jewish justices have had with the presidents who appointed them, and given the judges' Jewish background, investigates the antisemitism some of the justices encountered in their ascent within the legal profession before their appointment, as well as the role that antisemitism played in the attendant political debates and Senate confirmation battles. Other topics and themes include the changing role of Jews within the American legal profession and the views and judicial opinions of each of the justices on freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the death penalty, the right to privacy, gender equality, and the rights of criminal defendants, among other issues.

What makes a great judge? How are reputations forged? Why do some reputations endure, while others crumble? And how can we know whether a reputation is fairly deserved? In this ambitious book, Richard Posner confronts these questions in the case of Benjamin Cardozo. The result is both a revealing portrait of one of the most influential legal minds of our century and a model for a new kind of study—a balanced, objective, critical assessment of a judicial career. "The present compact and unflaggingly interesting volume . . . is a full-bodied scholarly biography. . . .It is illuminating in itself, and will serve as a significant contribution."—Paul A. Freund, New York Times Book Review

As Felix Frankfurter and James Landis write in their preface to The Business of the Supreme Court, "To an extraordinary degree legal thinking dominates the United States. Every act of government, every law passed by Congress, every treaty ratified by the Senate, every executive order issued by the President is tested by legal considerations and may be subjected to the hazards of litigation. Other Nations, too, have a written Constitution. But no other country in the world leaves to the judiciary the powers which it exercises over us." This classic volume, first published in 1928, originated in a series of articles written by Frankfurter, then a professor of law at Harvard University, and his student, Landis, for the Harvard Law Review. These articles chronicled and analyzed the many judiciary acts that were passed between 1789 and 1925, and illuminated the intimate connection between form and substance in the life of American law. For instance: When a community first decided to enact zoning laws--the Supreme Court had to approve. When the United States made a treaty with Germany following World War I--the Supreme Court had to define the limits and meaning of the treaty. Newly reissued with an introduction by constitutional expert Richard G. Stevens, The Business of the Supreme Court is still as fresh and relevant today as it was when first published. It is a work that will aid the student of the law to both love the law and remain true to its purposes.

Stevens sees three crises in American judicial statesmanship. The first was the crisis of the founding. The well being of the country was subjected to grave danger, culminating in the crisis of the Civil War, and a refoundation was required. During the mid twentieth century The United States faced the possibility of destruction, World War II, and the finding of malfeasance of the nation in the office of the president. The constant excitement of contest with antagonists makes it difficult to say whether the current crisis of the Supreme Court is merely a continuation or a whole new problem. The political leaders who resolved the first crisis and founded the Republic bequeathed as a part of that foundation the United States Supreme Court. During the subsequent history of the country, and with respect to its crises, the Court played a large part. Whether or not it does so well in the current period depends upon the quality of its judicial statesmanship. The judge is a person who acts. But it is considered action and considered action is based on prior understanding. The character of the Court's understanding, or direction, reveales itself in the course of its division over the application of the "due process" clause to state criminal proceedings. Frankfurter's view is problematic. If Western civilization is to be preserved, it must be because it is worth preserving. If it is worth preserving it must be because it is good. If so, can it be preserved by reliance upon and reference to itself, or must reliance not be placed upon that by virtue of which the thing to be preserved is worthy of preservation? This problem is not new to Western civilization. Much has been written about Frankfurter, and common descriptions of the terms "restraint" and "pragmatism" to characterize his doctrines. Previous treatments of these doctrines now available have not seemed adequate. The intention of Reason and History in Judicial Judgment is to treat them as ethical problems rather than as self-explaining conclusions.

Fiefs and Vassals has changed our view of the medieval world. It offers a fundamental challenge to orthodox conceptions of feudalism. Susan Reynolds argues that the concepts of the fief and of vassalage, as understood by historians of medieval Europe, were constructed by post-medieval scholars from the works of medieval academic lawyers and tha they provide a bad guide to the realities of medieval society. This is a radical new examination of relations between rulers, nobles, and freemen, the distillation of wide-ranging research by a leading medieval historian. It has revolutionized the way we think of the Middle Ages.

A new constitutional world burst into American life in the mid-twentieth century. For the first time, the national constitution's religion clauses were extended by the United States Supreme Court to all state and local governments. As energized religious individuals and groups probed the new boundaries between religion and government and claimed their sacred rights in court, a complex and evolving landscape of religion and law emerged. Sarah Gordon tells the stories of passionate believers who turned to the law and the courts to facilitate a dazzling diversity of spiritual practice. Legal decisions revealed the exquisite difficulty of gauging where religion ends and government begins. Controversies over school prayer, public funding, religion in prison, same-sex marriage, and secular rituals roiled long-standing assumptions about religion in public life. The range and depth of such conflicts were remarkableâe"and ubiquitous. Telling the story from the ground up, Gordon recovers religious practices and traditions that have generated compelling claims while transforming the law of religion. From isolated schoolchildren to outraged housewives and defiant prisoners, believers invoked legal protection while courts struggled to produce stable constitutional standards. In a field dominated by controversy, the vital connection between popular and legal constitutional understandings has sometimes been obscured. The Spirit of the Law explores this tumultuous constitutional world, demonstrating how religion and law have often seemed irreconcilable, even as they became deeply entwined in modern America.
Search for: